President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs increase, or taxes, are now in place as of Wednesday.
This means an additional 25 percent tariff has been placed on steel and aluminum imports into the country.
Billions of dollars of steel and aluminum are imported into the U.S. each year and reports show that Texas accounted for 18% of that with those top imports coming from Mexico, Brazil and Canada.
While Texas is considered to have a significant steel industry itself with mills across the state including in Houston, around $2.7 billion in iron and steel was imported into the lone star state according to data from 2019.
“Canada is a major exporter of steel and aluminum to the United States" said Dr. Anirban Basu, Chief Economist to Associated Builders and Contractors.
Texas imports more steel and aluminum than any other state, according to the Texas Controller of Public Accounts with a large portion of those imports being used to help build up Texas’ energy industry.
According to a 2017 study commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute, an estimated 77% of the steel used in new pipelines was imported.
"I’d expect the energy industry will flourish. The Trump administration has made a commitment to increasing domestic energy production," Dr. Basu said.
Some experts believe there’s a chance this could halt future energy projects in the lone star state over the coming months or years.
Tom Seng Ed. D is Assistant professor of energy finance at the Ralph Lowe Institute at the Neeley School of Business with Texas Christian University.
"What's not uncertain is costs are gonna go up. The question is what you asked earlier — who will ultimately bare those (costs)," he said.
Well that could include industry suppliers, manufacturers and even us — the consumer by raising our energy bills, he said.
Right now, economic experts are pointing to hard data for answers on the future of our economy such as what Wall Street will do next.
"At the moment it’s not a positive response shall we say to the implementation to the tariffs.”
President Trump continues to standing behind these tariffs as a way to help support our local economy, businesses and U.S. industries instead of foreign markets.
